Romsey'S Christmas lights will be switched on tomorrow night (saturday) following the winter carnival lantern parade.

The landlady of the town's Tavern pub has the honour of lighting up Romsey for Christmas. Sharon Conduct was nominated to carry out the big switch-on by people who put forward her name in Romsey and District Chamber of Trade's competition to find the town's 'unsung hero'.

Chamber secretary Melanie Liddell, said: "Sharon does a lot for the town. She is a good supporter of all the different things going on in Romsey and is involved in the Pubwatch scheme. It was a good nomination."

Romsey's festive lights will be turned on at about 6.30pm. And the winter carnival will precede the ceremony. This year the carnival parade starts off from Church Place at 5.30pm. The route includes Portersbridge Street, Latimer Street, the Hundred (west section), the Cornmarket, Bell Street (north end), the Market Place and Church Street.

Romsey Old Cadets Carnival Showband will be at the rear of the procession and will entertain carnival-goers in the Market Place while the rest of the parade disbands at Church Place.

There will be rolling road closures in place during both events and temporary closures at Abbey Water, Church Street and Bell Street.